Down the Middle
by Mslead
Summary: Igneel had known his son was a monster from the day he was found in a back alley. A story of what sacrifices a father would make for his son, and the demon who would walk a bloody road to redemption. NALU.
1. My Son and I

His son was a monster.

When Igneel said that, it wasn't a father joking about a mischievous child - although that was certainly true. No, his son was a legitimate monster through and through. A demon. A devil.

But what could he do when the boy looked at him with such wide, dark eyes. Tiny mouth stained by whatever poor fool had managed to get between his child and what he wanted to eat.

It wasn't his fault he was born like this. Born with the bloodlust and hunger, a constant battle between the innocent morals of a child and the instincts of a killer. Even little as he was, the boy could tear away the throat from a fully grown man in seconds.

Tears boiled in Natsu's eyes, a sob ripping from trembling lips. Igneel dropped down in front of his child, taking a pocket square from his jacket to wipe his mouth clean from blood. It wouldn't change anything, but it would help hide the damage.

"Daddy, I'm sorry," He sobbed, small hands burning into his father's pants leg. Smoke billowed from the polyester fabric, melting in Natsu's hands and making the sticky fibers cling to his chubby fingers. Igneel made a mental note to eliminate all blended fabrics from the house as he cringed against the burning holes in his trousers. The fire starting was a recent development.

"I-It was an ac-accident," Natsu trembled as Igneel bent down to look his son in the eye.

"Tell me what happened Natsu, it's okay," He said patiently.

Small hands desperately tried to hide the smoke billowing from his palms. He was torn between wanting to hug his father for comfort, and keeping his hands to himself. Seeing his son's indecision, Igneel made the decision for him.

Slowly, so not to startle Natsu, he collected his hands in front of him and hugged his tiny, burning body to his chest. Smoke poured out between them, the heat from his son's distraught body causing Igneel's clothes to begin to melt.

But he endured it.

He endured it because he loved his son.

Natsu's hysterical sobs began to die down enough for him to understand what he was saying. He had been walking home from school when the hunger struck. It often came and left in waves. Sometimes it was manageable, other times it was not. But the result was always the same.

Natsu hungered for flesh.

It didn't matter what kind. Meat of any sort would work.

But when it struck out in the open, randomly, without any preparation well - accidents happened.

Natsu's instincts had taken over, ravenous thirst for flesh fueling him to sink his teeth into the nearest warm body of flesh he had in the vicinity.

"Are still they alive?" Igneel asked Natsu.

The boy gave his father a weak, confused nod.

Igneel almost wished Natsu had killed him. With a quiet sigh, he nudged him off to his room with orders to clean up while Igneel dealt with the body left behind in his son's hunger.

As he slid a rain coat over his shoulders and grabbed baseball bat between shaky hands, Igneel couldn't help but wonder...

...What kind of life was his son going to lead?


	2. Growing Pains

Normal lives were never a possibility for Natsu or Igneel. That much had become clear to the latter very early on.

Igneel loved his son dearly. But to protect him, it meant certain steps had to be taken.

Natsu was not a normal child. He was too strong and fast. Other children could easily get hurt, and that was something they had discovered.

One of their first warning signs, before all this madness started, was Natsu's strength. He had been rough housing with one of the boys in their neighborhood. It all seemed fine and harmless enough, but before they had known it, the other boy had been screaming.

Natsu went crying to him for help, moving as fast as his tiny legs could carry him.

The other boy's arm had been broken in two places.

Natsu was four.

The other boy had been six.

After that incident, the accidents had just snowballed from there. It was like that one day had triggered something in Natsu, making him stronger, faster-

-hungrier.

Natsu stopped eating meat that was cooked since it started making him sick. Vegetables and fruits were off the menu as the boy's teeth sharpened to adapt to a mostly carnivorous diet. Canines grew pointed, his pupils changed, and his body temperature began to spike to unnaturally high levels.

The changes to Natsu happened in the space of a few months.

There were no parental manuals to instruct him on how to deal with something like this. He had no doubts on how much he loved his son, so when the bodies began to pile up, and Natsu turned towards him in teary horror, Igneel did the only thing he could do.

He covered them up.

He packed up their comfy life and took to the road, taking long jobs at night and keeping Natsu indoors and away from people. They went from motel to motel, never stopping for any length of time. On the occasion Natsu's teeth hadn't finished off his victim, Igneel would have to take matters into his own hands.

Because no matter how badly he wanted to help them, his first priority was in protecting his son.

His boy had been a sunny ball of energy, all smiles and wild spunk. He still was, so much energy bubbled up in his tiny body. Igneel tried his best to be both a friend and a father to him. He played hide and seek with his son in the grimy motel halls, tried to fix Natsu's only half-melted action figure, or taught him his letters.

It was difficult, but they managed to carve out a dysfunctional life for the two of them. Escaping the horror of the bodies that followed them was impossible, especially when he had to keep teaching Natsu that taking human life was bad. Something he knew his son understood, but was unable to control.

On those days, Natsu would spend time locked away crying in the bathroom until he exhausted himself. Igneel would pick up his small frame, clean the blood from him and put him to bed. In the middle of the night, Natsu would crawl into bed with him, and Igneel would allow it. His son was traumatized by the monster he was. Igneel would allow him whatever comfort he needed.

So it was with trepidation when Igneel found Natsu in the bathroom one day.

His son was in the corner, staring blankly at a wall and rocking back and forth. Pink hair hung around his face in thick locks, and Igneel made a mental note that his son needed a new haircut.

Igneel saw no blood though, and took it as a sign that Natsu hadn't done anything bad. There was plenty of food in the fridge for him, so he didn't think too much on why Natsu was sitting in the bathroom.

He dropped a hand on his son's shoulder, watching how his back stiffened and his head turned towards him.

"Natsu?" Igneel asked, but the face he was greeted with gave him an unrecognizing glare. He hadn't realized how hungry Natsu had been. Not until his son's round face whipped around, his pupils slitted into something closer to a reptile than human. His gaze was hypnotizing, like a cobra lulling a mouse into a false sense of security before it was snapped up and devoured.

The ripping pain was almost enough for Igneel to black out. Sharp, powerful teeth sank into his chest, and it was only by a blind miracle he had jerked back in time to avoid having his throat ripped out.

And like a snake, he pounced, surging forward with a snarl that had no business coming from a child the size of Natsu. Igneel only had enough presence of mind to realize Natsu had plenty of food recently, before razor sharp teeth buried into muscle and _ripped_.

Igneel roared in pain, falling to the floor as Natsu scurried backwards, his small hands clutching at his prize and devouring the piece of his father he had stolen. The pain was blinding, and Igneel emptied the contents of his stomach as his body rejected the agony inflicted on it.

He tried so hard to ignore the wet slurping from his son, munching the piece of Igneel he had literally torn from his chest. Either Natsu's hunger would be satiated by that piece, or-...

Igneel's eyes closed in grief, tears stinging his eyes as blood poured from his wound.

No matter his fate, when Natsu came to his senses, his tiny son would either be standing over the body of his dead or mutilated father.

A few second passed, the tensest of Igneel's life, as he waited for which way he would sway. He watched Natsu. The little demon was hunched over, licking blood from his lips and sucking his small fingers in his mouth to savor the taste of Igneel.

For better or worse, Igneel watched as the gold in Natsu's eyes faded. His small tongue froze where it was in the middle of flashing over his sticky palm, and dark, wide eyes slowly turning towards his victim.

And Igneel could do nothing but watch with hazy vision as something within his son broke.

"N-no," Natsu's small chest heaved, the denial on his face. He crawled over Igneel hastily, a choked sob tearing from his throat and hot tears streaming down chubby cheeks, "D-daddy, I'm sor-sorry!"

He was so young. Too young to be seeing this. Too young to be _doing_ this.

Igneel's vision went black around the corners as Natsu's hands went to him, but flinched away. His heart broke when he realized Natsu was afraid to touch him. His son was afraid of himself. Afraid of what he would do.

"W-What do I d-d-d-do?" His voice hiccuped, tunneling far away from Igneel. His eyes closed, and only then did he feel unusually hot hands grab his cheeks. So small against his face.

" _Dad no! Y-you have to stay aw-awake! H-how do I stop the bleeding?_ " Natsu's voice cried, desperate and confused.

At first there was blessed darkness. And cold. Igneel filtering between the haze of consciousness and sleep. He could stay like this forever. No fear, no moving from place to place, no…

No Natsu…

The guilt ate at him that he even thought that for one horrible moment.

A moment passed, and like divine punishment for his thoughts, something white hot and searing pressed into his flesh. Pain, unlike what he had felt before, burned his chest, the smell of cooking flesh and meat billowing out around them as Igneel thrashed.

Distant, he heard Natsu's broken voice sobbing out an apology.

" _I'm sorry!I'm sorry!I'msorryi'msorryi'msorry…!"_

Through the pain, he wanted to tell Natsu not to be afraid. That daddy was going to be fine, even though they both would know it was a lie.

But before he could say anything, he blacked out, blessed darkness taking him away from the pain. Away from the sharp teeth, the fiery hands, and the teary face of his son.

-::-

Natsu whimpered, his hands shaking as he dragged his father's body onto the bed. Normally it would be a task too difficult for a child, but he wasn't normal. Natsu tried to make his dad's hurts all better, but it was hard to see through the tears blinding him. Igneel was so cold and Natsu knew enough to realize that wasn't right.

He hurt his dad.

He had almost killed Igneel.

Natsu had sprinted to the bathroom the moment he finished cauterizing his dad's injury. He tripped over the loose, motel carpet in his haste to vomit out the chunk of Igneel he had just eaten. He wretched and emptied out the contents of his stomach, a bloom of red blood and meat floating into the basin.

A ragged sob ripped from him as hot tears scalded his face and dropped onto the carpet, burning holes into the raggedy floor.

Natsu knew he was a monster. There was something really wrong with him, some evil in him that turned him into an uncontrollable beast. But the panicked hacking he made was only stilled when he looked at his reflection in the murky red water.

He didn't look like a monster.

Natsu didn't understand.

Chest heaving, Natsu flushed the toilet and looked at the mirror. Blood was crusting around the corners of his mouth and he resisted the urge to instinctively lick it away. His stomach ached with hunger and nausea, but he ignored it for the being.

Normally Igneel would clean Natsu up because he would be too distraught to do it himself. But now Igneel was laying on a bed barely alive.

Natsu didn't know what to do. He had stopped the bleeding, but he didn't know if he had done it right. Igneel had screamed so loudly and his ears still rang from the memory of his dad's howls. Tears were clouding his eyes as Natsu frantically tried to wash the blood from his hands and arms in the sink.

He stood on a stool, leaning over the rinky counter as he tried to get his arms under the faucet.

No matter how hard he scrubbed, he could still see so much red.

It stained everything and Natsu didn't know how to clean it all up.

So he got washed and went into the bedroom with his daddy, sitting next to his bed but not daring to touch him again. The room was so quiet, and Natsu didn't know what to do. Igneel was still breathing, so all Natsu could do was wait for him to wake up again.

In the meantime, he turned on the tv. Not like Natsu intended on watching it, but he needed some noise to distract him from the dead quiet of the room.

Soon though Natsu found himself watching the screen. It was an old tube, with knobs and a swelling screen. He stared at the flickering images, hazy because of the bad quality, but clear enough for Natsu's sharp eyes to make out.

A happy family. The Heartfilia's.

A man and woman stood side by side, and between them was a bubbly looking girl about his age. They all looked so happy and he couldn't help but watch them with jealousy. The thought was squashed a moment later when he remembered the reason his family wasn't happy was because of him. His eyes drifted towards his father laid out on the bed.

Natsu looked at the TV with resentment for reminding him of what he had taken from Igneel, dropping his forehead against the thin blankets. His cries became muffled in the mattress, small shoulders shaking.

Guilt gnawed at him, threatening to destroy him,

Igneel's life would have been so different if Natsu could just be normal. Maybe he would have a house, and find Natsu a mommy too? They could be a happy family, instead of having to move from one smelly motel to another every few weeks.

Natsu sniffed and stepped away so he could go to the half-fridge.

He looked back at Igneel.

It was time to eat.


End file.
